A Very Merry Christmas and an Unexpected New Year
by DontCallMeSweetheart
Summary: So, Hermione and Ron have broken up, and Hermione has hit rock bottom.  With the New Year's ball coming up; what will she wear, who will she go with and who is sending her these strange messages? And, what will Draco do to win her heart?
1. December 16th : The Breakup

**Here is my Christmas Story, written for my friends Amy and Caitlin.**

**There are two parts, the first from Hermione's point of view and the second from Draco's.**

**This was supposed to be published yesterday evening but I fell asleep (whoops) so here it is now.**

**And no, I don't own the characters, I'm just borrowing them and I promise to put them back when I'm done.**

**Enjoy ;D**

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><p><span>Part 1<span>

When Hermione woke up that morning, she had no idea what the day was going to bring her. It was the last day of the school term before they broke up for the Christmas holidays.

She was going through her morning routine when she first realised something was wrong. Everywhere she looked, she could see the other 8th year girls looking at her with a look of what she could only describe as sympathy.

As she went down to breakfast, this continued, and not just from the girls, but some of the boys as well. She went to sit at the special 8th year table, and when she leant in to kiss Ron on the cheek, as per the norm, she actually heard somebody from the table gasp.

She whipped her head around, but couldn't find the source of the sound, so she decided to just continue as normal, feeling slightly self-conscious.

She was about to sit down when she felt a timid tap on her shoulder. She turned to see Lavender Brown stood in front of her, looking awfully guilty.

"Hey Lavender, is there something you need? I was about to sit down to eat breakfast." She looked Lavender up and down and was surprised to see that she wasn't, in fact, wearing her uniform, but instead was wearing her school robes over her pyjamas. And she looked awfully dishevelled, as in 'I haven't slept in a week' dishevelled. "Hey, are you okay? You look awful. Lavender?"

For a few moments there was no response then Lander mumbled something, too quiet for Hermione to hear.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that, what did you say" At this, Hermione was starting to get worried, and then Lavender looked up at her and Hermione had to hold back a gasp at how she looked. Her eyes were all puffed up from constant crying, and she looked truly broken. Hermione was about to say something, but then Lavender spoke, albeit quietly.

"Look, I'm really sorry, and I'll get it if you don't want to ever speak to me again, but I didn't know, although I should've seen the signs, but ,bu-" she started to cry more silent tears as she waited in front of Hermione for her fate.

But Hermione had no bloody idea what was happening, "Um, Lavender, do you want to go ahead and fill me in on exactly what is happening, because I have no idea"

And she didn't. But everything was starting to click into place; everyone staring at her, whispering behind her, the gasp when she went to kiss Ron on the cheek…

"I thought you knew, oh Hermione I'm so sorry. I… I-uh, I slept with Ron, but you have to know I didn't know you guys were together I swear and…"

But Hermione didn't hear the rest of what she said, she had zoned out. After the kiss during the final battle she had been hesitant to enter a relationship with Ronald. And they had only started to 'officially date' a couple of weeks ago, although only Harry, Ginny and Pansy knew. In that time, Hermione had decided that they would tell Mrs. Weasley when they went to the Burrow on Christmas day for dinner. Not now. He had slept with someone else, and now Hermione just felt broken 'not as broken as when you broke up with Victor' said a small voice inside her head.

"Hermione, can you hear me?" Harry. It was Harry's voice, she had better respond, but all she could do was nod her head. "Come on lets get you sat down" but she shook her head 'no' she thought 'Ron was there.

And then a different voice "Come on Hermione, just sit down and stop making a scene" Ron.

And before she new what she was doing, she turned and slapped him right across the face, the sound echoing around the now silent great hall.

"No thank you, Ronald. I would rather go and sit with some of my real friends, as apposed to a lying cheating bastard." And she turned and went to sit between Pansy and Blaise, opposite Draco, who all had shocked, but slightly proud faces on.

"You go girl" whispered Blaise into her ear, and Hermione just put on a weak smile and tucked into what would now be, a very mundane breakfast.

Xx Harry Potter xX

The rest of the day had flown past in a blur, with Hermione sticking to her 3 Slytherin friends as much as possible. She was now entering her last lesson of the day, double potions. It wasn't as bad anymore, seeing as Snape turned out to be Draco's godfather, but today Hermione was dreading it.

Why? Because her 'permanent until Snape says so or else' partner was none other than Ronald, who she had successfully avoided until then.

They were all waiting outside the classroom, as per Snape's request, when he swept into the hallway.

"Today you will switch partners; the list is on the board. Enter." And with that he swept into the classroom, leaving the students to follow him in.

Hermione only shared this class with Draco and Blaise, and as such, was stood next to Draco when Snape left. She lent over and whispered thanks in his ear. He smiled and replied "You're welcome, but it gets better" And it did.

Not only was she paired with Draco (which she was secretly pleased about because; not only was he amazing at potions, but he was also very handsome which Hermione was only just starting to see) but Ron was paired with Blaise.

Now Blaise, put simply, was gay as the 4th of July. He had come out very publically after the war, (although his parents still don't believe it) and was known to be a player.

So while Snape was droning on at the front of the classroom, Hermione and Draco, along with most of the rest of the class, were enjoying watching Blaise run his hand up Ron's leg, or lean over and whisper something in his ear, with a very startled looking Ron trying to get away from him without alerting Snape.

The rest of the lesson was fun as well. Draco was a very good partner seeing as he actually helped, and as such, Hermione's hair didn't get frazzled like normal. And she actually had a lot of fun because conversation with Draco just came easily to her.

By the end of the lesson she was happier than she had been all day, thanks to Blaise, and Draco. When they walked out of potions she looped arms with Draco and Blaise (after he winked at Ron) and walked up to the great hall for dinner. She sat again with her Slytherin friends, who were all happy to see her being somewhat normal again, and waited for the end of term speech.

It was different this year seeing as it was McGonagall, and not Dumbledore, making the speech. But it was heart-warming never the less. Hermione had all but zoned out when Pansy nudged her and pointed at McGonagall to indicate she should listen,

"And finally, I would like to announce that for all 6th, 7th and 8th years there will be a new year's ball held here in the great hall. For everyone wanting to come, only formal dress shall be accepted, and we would please ask that while there, anyone under 17 does not drink any alcohol.

Now, I'm sure you're all hungry, eat."

As the food appeared there was a quiet roar of voices as almost all the girls in said years started talking about the ball.

"So, Hermione, we're going to have to go shopping for dresses for the ball, I say tomorrow because there is one shop I simply must look in before anyone else finds it. What do you say?"

Hermione was hesitant to answer. Sure, she wanted to go, but she would never get a date, and would end up spending the entire nigh alone, not something that would help her at this point. But for Pansy, she would go anyway, what could possibly go wrong, it was dress shopping.

The feast went very quickly after that; Ron tried to talk to her twice, Blaise helping out both times and Pansy practically talked her ear off about the upcoming ball...

When she finally got to her room and tried to sleep that night, she was very wary of the fact that tomorrow could bring any measure of things, some worse than today, but for now, she was content to be happy with what she had.

And with that thought she drifted off into a restless sleep.

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><p><span>Part 2<span>

Draco was up earlier than normal. The day before he had heard a terrible rumour – the Weasel had had sex with Lavender.

Now Draco, being the smart, intelligent, sexy man he was, had figured out that Hermione and Weasley had started somewhat of a secret relationship. So now he was just hoping what he had heard wasn't true.

And so, apparently, did Pansy when she met him in the great hall for breakfast. They were just finishing a conversation about ho to deal with 'damage control' (deciding on using Blaise's 'skills') when a sudden hush came over the entire great hall. He turned to see Hermione coming through the door, looking slightly self-conscious.

He was going to get up and go and drag her to their spot at the table when he saw her stop next to said Weasel and Pot- Harry. To say he was surprised was a bit of an understatement, and when she lent towards Weasley he couldn't help but gasp, which had her looking around for a culprit.

Then a metaphorical 'hell' broke loose. Lavender was approaching Hermione at a rapid pace, they couldn't stop her.

They couldn't hear what was being said between them, but they could see the pale shade of white Hermione turned as Lavender was talking, so it was true, he'd slept with his little 'Lav-Lav' again.

The next events went really quickly, Harry said something and they saw Hermione nod her head, but them Weasley said something, and Hermione whirled round and smacked him in the face. She said something, took a deep breath and walked away from the others toward Draco, Pansy and Blaise.

She seated herself between Blaise and Pansy. Blaise leaned over and whispered "you go girl" into her ear which earned them a weak smile before she tucked into her breakfast.

Draco looked up at Pansy with a worried expression, but Pansy merely shrugged and went on with eating her own food.

Draco sat back in his seat for a minute, wondering what he could do to cheer up Hermione, when a sudden thought came to him.

Severus.

Xx Harry Potter xX

Draco had free period second lesson, so he decided to head down to see his godfather, knowing he also had some free time.

He knocked briskly on the door once before entering Severus's office, taking a quick look around the room before he met eyes with the man himself sat behind his desk.

"Ah Draco, have seat, is there something I can help you with today? I'm rather busy at present, so I can give you five minute of my time" A statement like this was something Draco was hoping for because he didn't want to have to explain everything in detail to Severus.

"Well, it's like this; Hermione needs a new potions partner, preferably me, because something happened between her and the Weasel, who would preferably happen to end up with Blaise can you help?"

Draco looked up to see a slightly smug look on Severus's face, "Of course, and I would ask why, but I fear I don't want to hear the answer. And can I also assume you a 'crush' on one Miss Granger to be asking for something like this for her?"

He raised his eyebrows at Draco, almost laughing when he saw the look on Draco's face.

"No. What? Why would you? Never mind. Yes, yes I do. Happy now? Draco's got a silly crush on a girl who wouldn't look at him twice alright? I'm going now, and it would be nice if you could do what I asked. Goodbye" And with that he stood and headed to the door.

"Draco?" Draco stopped and turned to look at him "It's not silly, as long as you do something about it" Draco looked at him once more before turning and leaving, hoping to get some studying done before Charms. "I never did…"

Xx Harry Potter xX

Draco was standing outside the potions classroom with Blaise and Hermione, still thinking about what Severus had said to him 'not silly as long as you do something about it' but what could he do? She would just turn him down and never speak to him again, but there was a little voice in his head nagging him, getting louder every minute 'she is single now, it wouldn't be wrong' no, he couldn't. Just because there was nothing to stop him, didn't mean he had to do something, right?

He was so confused he missed Snape's brief lecture on the new potions partners, so when Hermione leaned in to whisper in his ear he almost froze, then hearing her say thank you, he realized what she meant and suddenly remembered his request to put Blaise with Ron,

"You're welcome, but it gets better" And he was feeling quite pleased with himself when they entered the classroom.

As the potions lesson went on, Draco tried his best to help as much as possible, and not boss Hermione around which was easier said than done. Although Hermione was great at potions, it was obvious she had become accustomed to working alone, instead of having help, so every time Draco went to do something, Hermione would already be doing it. So he would have to pull a knife gently out of her hand so he could chop something while she stirred the cauldron, or vice a versa.

It wasn't even much of a bother like it normally would be when almost every five minutes a squeak or a yelp would come from Weasley at the front of the class because Blaise did something or other to startle him. So all in all, it was a good lesson.

And he was happy to find out that Hermione had also enjoyed the lesson, so it was with much joy that he hooked arms with Hermione, Blaise on her other side, and walked down to the great hall.

When they got to the great hall and sat down Draco couldn't keep his eyes off Hermione, and he was totally oblivious to the speech and everyone else around him until Hermione turned to listen to McGonagall, so he did too.

"And finally, I would like to announce that for all 6th, 7th and 8th years there will be a new year's ball held here in the great hall. For everyone wanting to come, only formal dress shall be accepted, and we would please ask that while there, anyone under 17 does not drink any alcohol.

Now, I'm sure you're all hungry, eat."

Draco turned back to eat his food, but other things were on his mind 'this could be my one chance to show her how I feel' and he was already formulating a plan while he listened to Pansy speaking to Hermione about the ball,

"So, Hermione, we're going to have to go shopping for dresses for the ball, I say tomorrow because there is one shop I simply must look in before anyone else finds it. What do you say?"

Draco could see the hesitance in her eyes, but then after a moment she nodded her consent, 'brilliant, now I'll have to talk to Pansy before they leave tomorrow' but then that was the last Draco actually thought about the ball, instead, just thinking of Hermione.

And as he lay down in bed in his room, with thoughts of Hermione still running through his brain, he came to a shocking conclusion, and spoke the words out loud just before he drifted off to sleep,

"I'm in love with Hermione Granger"

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><p><strong>There you go, hope you enjoyed it.<strong>

**I hope to have the next chapter up on Sunday, so please leave me a review and I may write quicker.**

**Merry Christmas ;D**


	2. December 17th & 18th : The Weekend

**So here is Chapter 2. Same layout as before, part 1 is about Hermione and part 2 is about Draco.**

**I still don**'t own Harry Potter, but I'm working on killing everyone who does so that I can finally own them and do with them as I wish, but alas, not yet.****

****Hope you enjoy ;D****

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><p><span>Part 1<span>

To Hermione, the weekend all but flew past.

It was full of Ron trying to talk to her, and Pansy, Blaise and Draco stopping him, with some much needed help from Harry and Ginny, which surprised Hermione slightly.

And constant apologies from Lavender, before Hermione just admitted to her (but mostly herself) that she never really loved Ron, he was more of a friend anyway, and she didn't care that he had had sex with Lavender. She went as far as telling Lavender that she could pursue a relationship with him if she wanted.

The only event that stood out was her 5 hour shopping trip with Pansy, and as she sat at her desk in her room on the Sunday evening, she reminisced about the odd occurrences the day before.

Xx Harry Potter xX

They had been trailing around Diagon Alley for the last 3 hours, and although Pansy had managed to buy three bags of stuff, she still hadn't found a dress for the upcoming ball, and consequently, neither had Hermione.

Just then Pansy stopped abruptly, and pointed at a shop.

"This one, I bet you we can find exactly what we want in here." So they went in, and were immediately escorted to a private room with two of the women working at the shop.

They asked about what sort of dress the girls wanted, so Hermione went along with it, describing her dream dress. She didn't however, expect them to come in carrying what she could only describe as **the** perfect dress.

It was a purple-blue colour made out of silk that fell down to the floor, flaring out at her hips slightly to accent her shape. It only had one strap, which was also made of silk that sat in a bow shape on top of her shoulder. All in all, it was the most beautiful thing Hermione had ever seen.

Pansy's dress was equally as beautiful, in the same design only hers was in an orange-red colour, making her look absolutely stunning.

The next events shook Hermione a bit. After Pansy announced they were buying the dresses, they asked the for price. After hearing the price (2,100 Galleons) Hermione sadly started pulling off the dress, announcing she couldn't afford it, but then, the sales assistant said her dress had already been paid for in full, so she could just take it.

'Who would buy me a dress?' Hermione thought as her and Pansy left the shop with their purchases.

"Look, don't worry about it Hermione, now come on, we need some matching shoes." And she skipped ahead towards the dress shops 'sister' shop that sold shoes that matched all of the dress shop's dresses.

"Fine" Hermione grumbled, as she trudged up the street, still trying to work out who would have bought her a dress, seeing as the sales women at the shop wouldn't tell her anything about him, 'at least she had let slip it was in fact a he' thought Hermione, 'it narrowed down the list'.

When they got to the shoe shop the same thing happened. She found a lovely pair of overpriced shoes that matched her dress perfectly, (they were the same purple-blue, with a bow on top, the same as the one on the shoulder of her dress) and found out that they had already been paid for by the same mysterious guy from the dress shop.

Pansy stayed uninterested in the whole ordeal of somebody buying things for Hermione, which was making her grow suspicious that Pansy knew who the person was, but she wouldn't push. She would wait until Pansy couldn't hold it in anymore, and then tickle it out of her.

Before they apparated back to school for the rest of the afternoon, they stopped by Hermione's favourite coffee shop in muggle London near the Leaky Cauldron.

As she was sat their, drinking her Latte, and listening to the people around her talk about Christmas, the waiter came over and asked if she was Hermione Granger. 'How odd' she thought, but said yes all the same, so he handed her a note that said

_Hermione,_

_I hope you love the dress you bought while out today, and I look forward to seeing you in it at New Year. And yes, Pansy knows who I am, but she can't tell you who._

_All I can say to comfort you is that she knows me, and thinks I am 'good enough' for you. And you know me too, and I like to think you like me, and think I'm devastatingly handsome._

_I would also like to know if you would accompany me to the New Year's ball. I know it's weird, seeing as you don't know who I am, but I assure you, you will enjoy being my date, even if you don't share my feelings when you work out who I am._

_And you will get a clue with every message you receive from me, and I must admit, I hope you work out who I am soon, but not yet._

_One more thing, I would approach you now, but I don't want to be a rebound after Weasley, that's not my style._

_Yours truly,_

_-X-_

Hermione read through the letter twice more before throwing it on the table and sighing.

"He's right you know" Hermione looked up at Pansy questioningly, who was holding her letter, "He is devastatingly handsome, even I have to admit it. And by the way, that's your first clue as to who he is. He has a huge ego." Pansy laughed slightly, shaking her head at the thought of Hermione's secret suitor "And you should go to the ball with him too, he's an excellent dancer" Pansy said with a wink.

Hermione was left to ponder all this information as she and Pansy headed back to the school, where dinner was going to be served shortly.

'Which boy's do I know who are single, straight, have massive ego's and are coming to the ball?' she thought as she made her way to the great hall.

Xx Harry Potter xX

Sitting at her desk, she looked down at the final list she had;

_1. Seamus Finnegan_

_2. Cormac McLaggen_

_3. Theodore Nott_

_4. Justin Finch-Fletchly_

_5. Zacharias Smith_

_6. Antony Goldstein_

_7._

There was nobody else Hermione could think of, apart from-, but no, he wouldn't look twice at her, but she put his name on her list anyway

_7. Draco Malfoy_

There, she had done it. She had put Draco Malfoy down as a potential suitor. Although she had put down Cormac McLaggen as well (he was stupid enough to have to redo his final year at school) so she was opening herself up to any possibility. But would Pansy approve of all these guys? She decided to take Cormac off the list, Pansy would never approve of him.

_1. Seamus Finnegan_

_2. Theodore Nott_

_3. Justin Finch-Fletchly_

_4. Zacharias Smith_

_5. Antony Goldstein_

_6. Draco Malfoy_

She was happy with that list now, and could edit it when she needed to. But who did she want it to be?

She looked at the clock and realised she should be in bed, and as she lay down she realised something. There was only one person on that list she wanted it to be, and she had unconsciously underlined his name while she was thinking.

And that person was Draco Malfoy.

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><p><span>Part 2<span>

That Sunday evening, Draco was sat on one of the sofas in the 8th year common room. He was mulling over the last two days; telling Ron to piss off and stay away from Hermione 5 times (and that was only Saturday), and Pansy constantly badgering him until he admitted to her that he had strong feelings for Hermione (why did she have to be so annoying and persuasive?).

So he was sat there, minding his own business, when none other than Harry Potter came and sat next to him. Draco gave him a questioning look, but let Harry speak to him first,

"Look, I know we've had some differences in the past, but now I like to consider us friends" Draco nodded, and let Harry continue "well, Pansy came to speak to me this afternoon and told me that you were harbouring some feelings for 'Mione, now, after what happened with Ron, I'm hesitant to say this, but, as long as you promise me you will never hurt her, I am willing to help you make her happy, and get together with her, so what do you say?"

Draco was stunned into silence, was he hearing correctly? Did Harry just tell him he would help him get Hermione? He looked at Harry and realised he was waiting for an answer,

"Of course I would never hurt her, I love her far too mu-" he quickly cut himself off, realising what he just said, looking up and seeing Harry smiling though, caused him to sigh in relief. He was safe for now.

"So, Pansy also said you had a plan, and you had already put some of it into action, care to fill me in?"

Xx Harry Potter xX

Draco had had to get up extremely early on Saturday morning. (What sane person gets up at 8 anyway?) He dressed and left before Pansy and Hermione had a chance to leave, and went straight to the shop he knew they would be going to later.

People there were somewhat surprised to see him, but a sales lady still came up to him, asking what he needed. He said he wanted to talk to the manager, and was led to a room in the back of the shop where a balding man was sat behind an ornate desk. He looked, and if he was shocked to see Draco, he his it very well,

"What can we help you with today Mr Malfoy?" he asked, curious to find out why Draco Malfoy was stood in his shop.

"Well, in about two hours, Pansy Parkinson and Hermione Granger are going to come in here looking for dresses for the Hogwarts New Year's ball.

I am here now, to put down a deposit to cover any expenses for Hermione Granger. I expect her to get first class service, and make sure she leaves with the dress she wants, no matter the cost. I trust 5,000 Galleons will suffice? Oh, and she can't know it is me doing this, understood?"

He looked down at the man he was talking to who had a look of absolute shock all over his face. He stuttered a few times before coming out with an answer,

"Of-of c-course Mr. M-Malfoy, you are aware our most expensive dresses are only 3,000 Galleons?" Draco merely nodded, so the shop manager continued, "Of course we can have that sorted out for you Mr Malfoy, thank you for your generosity."

Draco merely waved his hand in dismissal before pulling out a bag of Galleons and dropping them on the table, before bidding him goodbye and leaving the shop.

He then repeated this process at the 'sister' shop that sold shoes (seriously, what the hell?) and then waited, just so he could see her dress and the look on Hermione's face. Luckily for him she looked quite pleased at the turn of events that allowed her to buy her dream dress and shoes, 'hopefully she won't kill me for this'

As they exited the shoe shop he heard Hermione mention the name of a coffee shop in muggle London they were heading to, 'thank Merlin I'm wearing muggle clothes' Draco thought as he went to execute his next step.

He saw them sit out side of the shop at a table and order their drinks, so he went inside to write out a message to send to Hermione.

_Hermione,_

_I hope you love the dress you bought while out today, and I look forward to seeing you in it at New Year. And yes, Pansy knows who I am, but she can't tell you who._

_All I can say to comfort you is that she knows me, and thinks I am 'good enough' for you. And you know me too, and I like to think you like me, and think I'm devastatingly handsome._

_I would also like to know if you would accompany me to the New Year's ball. I know it's weird, seeing as you don't know who I am, but I assure you, you will enjoy being my date, even if you don't share my feelings when you work out who I am._

_And you will get a clue with every message you receive from me, and I must admit, I hope you work out who I am soon, but not yet._

_One more thing, I would approach you now, but I don't want to be a rebound after Weasley, that's not my style._

_Yours truly,_

_-X-_

He found one of the waiters and asked him to take the letter to her and hurriedly left the cafe to get back to Hogwarts before the girls did.

Xx Harry Potter xX

Draco finished telling Harry everything he had done the day before, and looked up at him to find his opinion.

"So that's what the list is in her room" said Harry

"What list?" asked Draco, looking quite worried.

"Well, I went in to talk to her before coming down here, and she was already asleep, but on her desk there was a list of 6 names. Your name was on their, and she had underlined it. Don't know why though." Harry said thoughtfully.

Draco sat back in thought, 'so she was trying to work out who had sent her the note' he was hoping it took her a little longer to actually work out it was him, he wanted to surprise her on New Year's Eve.

He decided to go to bed, as he had a feeling tomorrow would be a long day. Without any lessons, he wouldn't be able to distract himself from Hermione's now constant presence, after everything with Ron.

He excused himself from Harry's presence, and headed up to his bedroom to get ready for bed.

He lay in bed, waiting for sleep to come, thinking about why Hermione had underlined his name on her list, but dismissed the thoughts from his mind in favour of sleep.

And as Draco fell asleep, it wasn't to dreams of Hermione naked in his bed as it used to be.

It was to dreams of walks in the park, and her telling him she loved him.

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><p><strong>So, it turns out that if you kill someone you have to go to jail, so I'm trying to formulate a new plan, but for now, I got nothing.<strong>

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter, leave a review if you can ;P**


	3. December 19th : The Truth About Blaise

**So Here is chapter 3, Part 1 is from Hermione's POV and part 2 from Draco's POV**

**As was mentioned to me last night, 'killing people doesn't make them like you. It just makes them dead' so I have decided I will start saving to buy the rights to Harry Potter and right now, I'm on about £7.63, so I have a little more saving ahead of me (sigh) but I will get there.**

**Hope you enjoy it folks ;D**

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><p><span>Part 1<span>

The day was bound to bring something unexpected, but what happened, literally made Hermione speechless.

She was sat there in the great hall, eating a piece of watermelon, chatting with Blaise about his new jeans, when suddenly; the entire great hall went silent. She looked up and down the table and realised Ron had stood up and was walking towards them with a determined look on his face.

Hermione was starting to feel slightly worried. She turned to Pansy, who had already stood up and was heading towards Ron with fire in her eyes.

"Don't you think about taking one more step towards her Weasley, you've caused her enough harm." Pansy said in a quiet, but threatening voice.

Hermione looked worriedly up at Ron, but he still had the determined look on his face,

"No Pansy, I have to be allowed to talk to her, she needs to understand why I did what I did. You see…" But he didn't get to finish his statement

Hermione, who was listening to everything that was being said, had finally had enough. She didn't know why Ron had done what he did, all she knew was that he had hurt her, and that didn't sit well in her book. So it was time she told him what she thought, so she cut him off mid sentence.

"You have to be allowed to talk to me, do you Ronald?" Hermione started as she got out of her seat, Draco and Blaise behind her,

"So what exactly are you going to tell me, huh? Are you going to try and tell me it was all a mistake? Or that she made you have sex with her? What Ronald, because whatever the reason is, you still had sex with another girl. You still managed to make me feel like I wasn't good enough for you." All the while, she was still stalking towards him, like a predator towards its prey.

"Look, Hermione, I'm sorry. It might sound lame, but it was a mistake, you have to believe me. Can't you just get over it, and maybe be my date to the ball?" He looked a bit sheepish, but Hermione almost lost it right then and there.

What right did he have to ask her to go to the ball with him, that lying, cheating moron.

"For your information, Ronald, I already have a date to the ball" Hermione said, hoping that he didn't ask who. Yes, she had decided to go with her mystery guy who had sent her that note and bought the dress, but she still hadn't figured out who he was.

"Yeah right Hermione, like anyone has asked you to the ball. Just give it up and stop acting like a bitch." And the next events went past in a blur.

Before Hermione had time to pull out her wand, a spell hit Ron square in the chest sending him flying across the hall and crashing into a suit of armour. Hermione spun round to see Blaise with his wand out, looking totally shocked at what had just happened.

Hermione didn't even bother going to see if Ron was okay. Ignoring the chaos that had erupted around them, she approached Blaise cautiously, following Draco's example.

"Blaise, mate, are you okay?" said Draco. No response,

"Blaise honey, you need to put down your wand, please?" said Hermione, which seemed to snap Blaise out of his trance.

That was when she noticed the tears falling silently down his face. He began shaking, and he almost fell over, Draco catching him before he did and steering him over to the nearest bench.

The great hall was in chaos around them, but right now, Draco and Hermione were too concerned with Blaise to notice anything. The only thing Hermione had noticed was Pansy speaking with Snape and McGonagall.

"God Blaise, what happened? Are you alright? How do you feel?" But Draco couldn't get a coherent answer out of his best friend, who had broken down completely and was full out crying into Draco's shoulder.

"What do we do?" asked Hermione in a panicked voice.

"We need to get him out of here, to the common room" said Draco. And then to Hermione's amazement, he picked Blaise up bridal style, and began walking to the exit of the great hall.

Hermione followed, anxious as to why Blaise had done what he'd done, but for now, she decided to just stay quiet and follow Draco to their common room.

When they arrived Draco quickly strode over to his own room and deposited Blaise onto his bed, instead of to Blaise's shared dormitory, and then came back out to the anxious Hermione.

All the while Hermione was thinking about what had happened 'why had Blaise acted like that? What the hell was going on?' and she was hoping to get some answers from Draco.

She sat down onto one of the sofas and Draco flopped down onto the sofa next to her. She looked at him for a moment before voicing her question,

"Why did Blaise react like that? I mean, I know Ron was being rude, but he didn't have to throw him halfway across the great hall like that" Hermione asked, hoping he would be straight with her and tell her the truth.

Draco sat there for a minute, pondering his options. Firstly, he could make up a lie and hoped she believed him, or he could just tell her the truth and risk Blaise's wrath later. He threw caution to the wind and went for option two.

"Well, in the summer of fifth year, Blaise had a bit of an incident involving his mother and father, and let's just say, that from that point onward, no man will ever get close to laying a finger on a woman who he cares for, unless they never want to have children" said Draco, hoping he hadn't made it sound too bad.

Hermione was shocked at what she had heard. She had never known Blaise to be violent, but then again, they had only been friends for a few months, and he had never spoken about his parents to her before, 'well duh' she thought to herself 'he wouldn't have, if something like that had happened'. She decided to leave it at that and not push for more details.

Draco, feeling the slight awkwardness in the air, decided to change the subject.

"So Hermione, seeing as we're head boy and girl, McGonagall said that we have to do the rest of the organising for the ball. She said that they had already hired out a band, but we have to do the rest, so I figure, we should deal with Blaise and everything today, but we could get started on that tomorrow. And Pansy has deemed me good enough to be your bodyguard, so she won't be hanging around you all day to protect you from the Weasel. So what d'you say?"

Hermione had known they would probably be roped into doing something for the ball, but seriously? They had to organise the entire thing? But she did agree with Draco's reasoning,

"That sounds like a plan. We should probably go and see how Blaise is doing."

Draco nodded and they both got up and headed towards Draco's room.

Xx Harry Potter xX

They had managed to get Blaise back to his normal joking self by dinner, which was a relief to everyone.

After being informed of his 'special' circumstances, McGonagall had let him off with a warning, so they spent their dinner discussing some plans for the ball, which continued when they got back to the common room.

"Okay, okay, we are not turning this ball into a party where people can come to get laid Pansy; it's supposed to be a dance." Said Draco, to which Blaise and Hermione started laughing. They had all consumed quite a bit of alcohol by this point, and the ideas were getting stupider as the night went on.

"I second that, it's supposed to be a pleasant evening. Now come on, it's getting late; we need to go to bed." Hermione's statement was met with groans of protest, but eventually everyone headed off to bed to get a well earned nights sleep.

Hermione snuggled up in her duvet, sighing in contentment before slipping into dreams of her mystery man.

And only when she woke in the middle of the night, did she realise that he had had platinum blonde hair and stormy grey eyes.

* * *

><p><span>Part 2<span>

Draco's day was almost as unexpected as Hermione's.

There he sat, innocently eating his breakfast (how he adored watermelon) when out of nowhere, the Weasel was walking over, ready to confront Hermione. 'Gee' thought Draco 'doesn't this guy take a hint' – apparently not.

Pansy got up, stopping him a couple of feet away from Hermione, Draco and Blaise, putting on her most threatening face.

"Don't you think about taking one more step towards her Weasley, you've caused her enough harm." Pansy said in her 'get the hell away from me' voice that Draco had many a time been on the receiving end of. But he just wasn't taking the hint.

"No Pansy, I have to be allowed to talk to her, she needs to understand why I did what I did. You see…" But Hermione stopped him before he could finish his sentence, and boy did she look pissed.

"You have to be allowed to talk to me, do you Ronald?" Hermione started as she got out of her seat, Draco deciding to follow her, along with Blaise, both discretely pulling out their wands.

"So what exactly are you going to tell me, huh? Are you going to try and tell me it was all a mistake? Or that she made you have sex with her? What Ronald, because whatever the reason is, you still had sex with another girl. You still managed to make me feel like I wasn't good enough for you." As she spoke, she was slowly stalking toward him, like a predator to its prey.

And what she'd said made Draco really pissed. She was too good for Ron, far too good, and what Ron said only furthered his opinion of Weasley being a disgusting waste of skin.

"Look, Hermione, I'm sorry. It might sound lame, but it was a mistake, you have to believe me. Can't you just get over it, and maybe be my date to the ball?" He looked a bit sheepish, and Draco glanced at Hermione who was glaring absolute daggers at Ron. He assumed that was a no from her?

What she said next, however, made Draco quite happy,

"For your information, Ronald, I already have a date to the ball" So did that mean she was excepting his offer in the note? He hoped so.

"Yeah right Hermione, like anyone has asked you to the ball. Just give it up and stop acting like a bitch." Draco was about to act, do something to make Ron regret he was born, but he never got the chance.

From next to him, a stream of light exited Blaise's wand and hit Ron squarely in the chest, sending him flying into a suit of armour across the room.

And suddenly, there was chaos.

Draco went straight to Blaise, needing to know if he was alright,

"Blaise, mate, are you okay?" asked Draco, scared that Blaise wouldn't, or couldn't, answer him. There was no response,

"Blaise honey, you need to put down your wand, please?" said Hermione, which surprisingly to Draco, seemed to snap Blaise out of his trance.

Draco only then noticed the tear tracks down his best friends face, and then he realised Blaise was shaking. Then he almost fell over, but Draco managed to catch him, and practically carried him to the closest bench, where he sat down next to Blaise who proceeded to attach himself to Draco's shoulder.

"God Blaise, what happened? Are you alright? How do you feel?" But Blaise didn't respond, just continued to cry into Draco's shoulder, because of what Draco knew, were memories of that night in the summer of fifth year.

"What do we do?" he heard Hermione ask, her panicked voice the only sound he heard through all the commotion.

"We need to get him out of here, to the common room" And without thinking about it, he lifted Blaise into his arms bridal style, and strode off in the direction of the 8th year common room, not allowing anyone to stop him.

When they reached the common room he strode straight over to his personal bedroom and carefully laid Blaise onto his bed, before coming outside to speak to Hermione.

Hermione had sat herself down onto one of the sofas and Draco decided to just flop down onto the sofa next to her. She looked up at him for a moment and he realised that he was going to have to explain what happened.

"Why did Blaise react like that? I mean, I know Ron was being rude, but he didn't have to throw him halfway across the great hall like that"

Draco sat there for a minute, pondering his options. Firstly, he could just make up a lie about anger issues or something and hope she would believed him, or he could just tell her the truth and risk Blaise's wrath later. He decided that the truth, at this point, was a better option and as such, went for option two.

"Well, in the summer of fifth year, Blaise had a bit of an incident involving his mother and father, and let's just say, that from that point onward, no man will ever get close to laying a finger on a woman who he cares for, unless they never want to have children" said Draco, hoping he hadn't made it sound too bad, when in all actuality, it had been one of the scariest things he had heard.

From what Blaise had briefly told him, he knew that Blaise's real father (not his stepdad, who was quite cool) would rather be dead than living the way that Blaise had left him. But no need to scare Hermione.

Draco, who was starting to feel the slight awkwardness in the air, decided to change the subject, and bring up something work-related to distract Hermione,

"So Hermione, seeing as we're head boy and girl, McGonagall said that we have to do the rest of the organising for the ball. She said that they had already hired out a band, but we have to do the rest, so I figure, we should deal with Blaise and everything today, but we could get started on that tomorrow. And Pansy has deemed me good enough to be your bodyguard, so she won't be hanging around you all day to protect you from the Weasel. So what d'you say?"

Now, even Draco had to admit that what McGonagall was asking was a bit extreme, but it would help occupy Hermione's mind while she got over the break-up with Ron, so all was good in Draco-land.

"That sounds like a plan. We should probably go and see how Blaise is doing."

Draco nodded, agreeing fully that they needed to keep a close eye on Blaise for the rest of the day, so they both got up and headed back towards Draco's room.

Xx Harry Potter xX

The rest of the day went better than Draco thought seeing as they actually managed to get Blaise back to normal before dinner.

Over dinner, and later into the evening, they started to discuss themes for the ball, all the while consuming some much appreciated alcohol, and they finally got sent off to bed by Hermione when Pansy brought up the idea of practically having an orgy at the party.

While he changed into his pyjamas, Draco remembered Hermione's words from earlier 'You still managed to make me feel like I wasn't good enough for you' – how could Weasley have done that to his precious Hermione, wait, 'his' precious Hermione, where did that come from. He was acting possessive over her and they weren't even together yet? For the love of Merlin he needed to sort himself out before he gave anything away to her.

He climbed into his bed with one thought in mind before he drifted into a blissful sleep full of dreams of Hermione Granger,

'Hermione would never feel like she wasn't good enough for Draco Malfoy'

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><p><strong>So what do y'all think of chapter 3? Leave a review and let me know.<strong>

**Meanwhile, I have decided that robbing a bank will solve all my problems about owning the rights to Harry Potter, what do you think? Reckon I can pull it off? Let me know if you have any other suggestions ;P**


	4. December 20th : Present Wrapping

**So here is chapter 4, it's not as long as the other chapters, but the next one will be longer, I promise.**

**Same layout as before, part 1 from Hermione's POV and part 2 from Draco's POV (Gosh, I'm getting bored of saying that, I'm thinking next chapter I just won't, and I'll let you try and figure it out yourselves)**

**Also, I would just like to say thank you to 'ushallneverknow' - Yes, I would love your help robbing a bank, we just need a couple more people to help us out, make up a bigger team.**

**Enjoy it folks ;D**

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><p><span>Part 1<span>

There were many things Hermione loved about magic, but the one thing she insisted on doing the muggle way every year was wrapping presents.

So there she was sat, on the floor of her bedroom with Pansy, wrapping up various presents she had bought for her friends. This was one of the only traditions that she had brought with her from the muggle world (and one she made her friends participate in).

They were casually talking about the New Year's ball and what Hermione and Draco would actually talk about that afternoon and what Hermione was going to do about her 'mystery man', when an owl swept into the room and dropped a letter into Hermione's lap before fluttering over to the bed and perching on the head board.

Hermione looked over at Pansy who just shrugged, so she turned to the letter and opened it to see what it was about. It read,

_Hermione,_

_I can only assume from what you said in the Great Hall yesterday that you have, in fact, accepted my offer to accompany you to the New Year's Ball. If so, please send word with this owl to answer me; yes or no._

_Also, I hope that yesterday didn't shock you too much, and I promise that if you and I were together, I would not let Ron Weasley within 20 meters of you._

_I hope you have a pleasant afternoon._

_Yours truly,_

_-X-_

Hermione wasn't sure what to think, on one hand, what he had said was extremely sweet, on the other, it was very caveman like which she wouldn't put up with.

She gave the letter to Pansy to read, and then went over to her desk to write a reply to his letter

_To whomever you are,_

_Yes, I would love to accompany you to the ball, as I have been assured by Pansy that you are an excellent dancer._

_You will find attached a list of names, one of which I hope is you; please say in your next letter whether your name is in fact on said list._

_Wishing I knew who you were,_

_Hermione_

She put the note, as well as her list, into an envelope and gave it to the bird that immediately flew away with the letter to give to her mystery man. Little did she know that it merely did a loop of the school before it flew into the room next door to hers to a waiting Draco.

Hermione looked over at Pansy, who had read the letter and was putting it with the other one on Hermione's bed side table,

"Are you sure you can't just tell me who he is? From what he's said, I think I might actually really like him" but Pansy just shook her head, before cracking up laughing at the annoyed look on Hermione's face.

"Fine, fine. You can leave now the wrapping all done; I'll meet you in the great hall in half an hour for lunch." Said Hermione, who turned to her desk to finish what little homework she had left.

"Okay Hermione, I'll go. Try not to run into Weasley on your way to the great hall, alright?" And with that parting statement, Pansy left Hermione alone in her bedroom chuckling at what Pansy had said.

In all actuality, Hermione had been ready to have a civil conversation with Ron yesterday. However after what he had said to her in the great hall, she had decided she should leave it for a while so she didn't hurt him (Pansy's words, not hers).

Sighing, Hermione turned to her desk and set about doing the rest of her work before lunch.

Xx Harry Potter xX

"That's a great idea" said Draco, as Hermione finished explaining her idea for the New Year Ball.

It was simple; they were going to turn it into a masquerade ball, encouraging everyone to come fully dressed up. Luckily, Hermione had been given a beautiful purple eye mask for her birthday that year from her parents that she could wear that would match her dress. It was going to be great.

The only problem she now faced was telling her 'mystery guy' what she was wearing so that they could co-ordinate what they were wearing so they looked like a couple.

She figured she would just get Pansy to do it, get rid of some of her workload for once.

She looked up at Draco just as he turned away from her after she had realised he was staring at her, 'this is awkward' she thought, trying to think of something to say. Draco beat her to it,

"So, I think that for decorations we could go for something kind of gothic, but not too much cos' we don't want to ruin the atmosphere, you know what I mean?" All the while with Hermione nodding along, 'he has some of the best ideas' she thought before replying,

"Yeah, I like that idea; we can go for some purples and blues, with the stars in the sky above the entire great hall… Oh, and we could also get a door open at the side of the hall leading into the rose gardens, they are sooo romantic." At that, Hermione had the decency to turn a little pink and turn way from Draco, who chuckled a bit before responding,

"Sure, that sounds like a great idea, even the rose gardens bit" And when Hermione turned to look at him she saw one of his rare smiles and couldn't help but smile back before getting on with writing down all of their ideas.

"Hey Draco, this may sound a little strange, but, well, have you heard of any of the boys in our year sending me love notes?" Hermione asked, looking anywhere but at him.

"It's not strange, and no, I can't say that I have, but I'll keep you informed if I hear anything" And because Hermione didn't look up, she missed the smile that flitted across Draco's face before he spoke again,

"Come on, we should go show McGonagall what we've got so far" And he reached out his hand to help Hermione off the sofa before they headed off to the headmistresses office.

Xx Harry Potter xX

As Hermione lay in bed that night, a sudden thought came into her head 'I gave my mystery man the list of names that had Draco's name underlined' – she felt like a fool.

What if the guy saw this and decided to give up on her? What if her guy was Draco? What if the guy wasn't even on the list she had? For the love of Merlin she needed to stop thinking so damn hard.

With all these thoughts swirling around her head, she headed off into a restless sleep.

Part 2

Draco had decided that it was time to write another letter to Hermione,

_Hermione,_

_I can only assume from what you said in the Great Hall yesterday that you have, in fact, accepted my offer to accompany you to the New Year's Ball. If so, please send word with this owl to answer me; yes or no._

_Also, I hope that yesterday didn't shock you too much, and I promise that if you and I were together, I would not let Ron Weasley within 20 meters of you._

_I hope you have a pleasant afternoon._

_Yours truly,_

_-X-_

When he had finished writing his letter and was satisfied it was good enough, he gave it to his owl and let it fly off to deliver the letter to Hermione's room.

He waited for a couple of minutes before the same owl flew back into his room with his reply. As soon as it dropped the letter onto Draco's lap he ripped open the envelope to see what she had written,

_To whomever you are,_

_Yes, I would love to accompany you to the ball, as I have been assured by Pansy that you are an excellent dancer._

_You will find attached a list of names, one of which I hope is you; please say in your next letter whether your name is in fact on said list._

_Wishing I knew who you were,_

_Hermione_

Wait, she had included that list that Harry had told him about on Sunday. Now he could see who she considered to be his competition. But when he saw her list, most of the names made him laugh,

_1. Seamus Finnegan_

_2. Theodore Nott_

_3. Justin Finch-Fletchly_

_4. Zacharias Smith_

_5. Antony Goldstein_

_6. Draco Malfoy_

The only person he considered worthy to be his adversary on that list was Seamus Finnegan. He knew it was weird to think that of a Gryffindor, but hey, he knew that Seamus was a good guy.

One thing that stood out to him on the list, however, was the fact that she had underlined his name, 'did that mean she had worked it out or did she just hope that it was him' either way, it didn't matter.

He glanced at the clock and realised that Pansy would be waiting for him to accompany her to lunch, 'Ah well, I'll find out soon enough' he thought 'just 12 days left'

And with that thought, he headed down to lunch

Xx Harry Potter xX

Draco had to admit that he hadn't listened to most of what Hermione had said, he had been too busy watching her lips as she spoke, but he had heard enough to get the gist of what her idea was.

He suddenly realised he had been staring at her face for far too long, and decided to say something to get rid of the awkwardness filling the air.

"So, I think that for decorations we could go for something kind of gothic, but not too much cos' we don't want to ruin the atmosphere, you know what I mean?" He turned to Hermione, and saw her nodding along to what he was saying,

"Yeah, I like that idea; we can go for some purples and blues, with the stars in the sky above the entire great hall… Oh, and we could also get a door open at the side of the hall leading into the rose gardens, they are sooo romantic." Draco actually liked that idea and he let a smile grace his face when he saw Hermione's face turn pink as she looked away. He chuckled before speaking again,

"Sure, that sounds like a great idea, even the rose gardens bit" And when Draco saw Hermione turn and smile at him before turning to write down their ideas, an even wider smile appeared on his face.

"Hey Draco, this may sound a little strange, but, well, have you heard of any of the boys in our year sending me love notes?" And because Hermione wasn't looking at him, he let himself put on a smug face, knowing that she hadn't yet figured him out.

"It's not strange, and no, I can't say that I have, but I'll keep you informed if I hear anything" 'Yeah' he thought to himself 'When I decide to reveal my true identity to you, you'll definitely know who's sending you the notes'

"Come on, we should go show McGonagall what we've got so far" And he threw caution to the wind and decided to reach out his hand and take hers to help her off the sofa before they headed off to the headmistresses office.

Xx Harry Potter xX

Draco was pleased that his plan was working. Sure, Hermione didn't know it was him sending her the notes, but, he was pretty sure she wanted it to be him sending them after seeing his name underlined on her list.

And as he sunk back into his mattress his last thought before he drifted off to sleep was this,

'I haven't bought Hermione a Christmas present!'

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><p><strong>So, did you enjoy it? Did you hate it? Do you want to join my bank robbery crew? (I'm thinking of calling it 'Sweetheart's 11' what do you think? - Of course that will only work if we get 9 more people...) If so, just leave me a review.<strong>

**Thanks for reading ;P**


	5. December 21st & 22nd : Presents & Movies

**So here is Chapter 5, I would have done a chapter yesterday, but I went shopping with my grandparents ;D**

**I hope you enjoy it, and no, I still don't own Harry Potter D:**

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><p><span>Part 1<span>

Hermione sighed as she sat back in her armchair in her bedroom.

Yesterday, she, Pansy and most of the other girls had been decorating the entire common room with everything from a giant tree in the corner, to fairy lights strung around the ceiling.

And today she had spent all of her time either eating or watching muggle Christmas films – all of that time in very close proximity to none other than Draco Malfoy, the guy she was trying to avoid after figuring out she had a crush on him. She had thought that by watching muggle films, he would leave and do something else, but no. He had spent the entire day sat there with her. She was a mess.

It had been better yesterday when she actually had something to do.

Xx Harry Potter xX

"Hey Pansy, where are Draco and Blaise?" Hermione asked one of her best friends, hoping she didn't sound too odd asking where Draco was.

Pansy smirked at the question before replying,

"They went to Diagon Alley so that Draco could buy his Secret Santo gift. The lazy sod still hasn't bought the gift yet and it's 4 days until Christmas. The nerve of some people" She deadpanned, before her and Hermione burst into laughter, startling some of the people around them.

"Oh, cool. Anyway, I need someone to come with me to muggle London to buy some Christmas decorations for the common room, you game?" asked Hermione, knowing Pansy would come with her wherever she was going (she had decided Hermione needed a 24 hour body guard).

So that's why an hour later, Pansy and Hermione were traipsing round a huge Tesco somewhere in the middle of London looking for some fairy lights and tinsel.

"Oh come on, we must have at least 50 metres of tinsel Hermione, surely we don't need to buy anything else" whined Pansy, who was pushing around a trolley full of Christmas decorations.

"Sorry Pans, we just need to find a star to go at the top of the tree, why don't you go and queue up to pay while I go and find one, okay?" Pansy nodded and headed off to one of the queue lines while Hermione quickly ran off to find a star to put on top of the tree.

She quickly found one and went to join Pansy in the queue. Just as she was approaching she saw Pansy and realised how awkward she must feel. A pure blood witch stood in the middle of a muggle store, Hermione never should have left heron her own.

She was surprised to find, however, that Pansy was happily flirting with the checkout boy as he was packing all of their shopping into a bag. Hermione came over and just gave Pansy a look that said 'you are soo you' and turned to pay for their purchases before they left to head back to Hogwarts for the afternoon.

Xx Harry Potter xX

They had been decorating the room for the last couple of hours and Hermione couldn't help but look over at Draco every 10 minutes or so, and she was pretty sure that Harry, Blaise and Pansy had all noticed, but nobody had said anything.

It had become apparent to Hermione, and most of the girls, that the two boys playing chess just didn't really care about the decorations in the common room, so as the time went on they asked for their opinions less and less.

At about half past 5, just after Draco had, yet again, won a chess match against Harry again, Hermione realised she had been sitting there staring at Draco as he laughed with Harry, 'get a grip of yourself Hermione, you need to stop staring at him' she thought to herself as she turned back to decorating, missing the longing gaze that Draco sent at her moments later.

Later on in the evening, when all the decorations were up, Hermione was in the middle of an animated conversation with Dean about getting a television into the common room because she had finally worked out how to make electronics work inside Hogwarts, when Harry came over and reminded her about the Secret Santa announcement she needed to make,

"Thanks Harry" she said to him as he walked back over to where he had been sat and she stood up to make the announcement,

"Okay, so I know that a lot of you are going back to your homes on Christmas day, so, now that the tree is up, everyone can start putting their Secret Santa gifts under the tree starting tomorrow, and we'll hand them out on Saturday evening. That's all guys, you can go back to whatever you were doing" And she turned back to talk to Dean about setting up some films to watch tomorrow.

After Harry had made his leave from the common room, Hermione was one of the first to head up to her room to get some much needed sleep after her day of decorating.

Xx Harry Potter xX

The next day Hermione decided to just go ahead and set up a television in the common room so that she could watch some of her favourite Christmas films.

Dean had asked her if she could put on Die Hard 2 at one point in the day and she was also going to put on The Grinch, the Muppets Christmas Carol, 4 Christmases and her favourite, Love Actually.

The idea of doing this was to get away from Draco for the day. She figured that if she put on muggle films, he would just sort of disappear. Oh, how she was mistaken. Pansy had appointed him as her body guard for the day, so she ended up spending the entire day with him.

She also felt very embarrassed when she realised she had been talking along to most of the words in Love Actually as she had completely forgotten that she wasn't alone.

Once it had finished (Love Actually being the last film of the day) she got up, yawned and announced she was going to bed.

Before she got into bed, however, she spent 10 or so minutes sat in her armchair thinking over the last two day, 'for trying to avoid Draco, I didn't do a very good job' thought Hermione as she got up to change into her pyjamas.

She climbed into her bed and lay there for a moment, trying to work out when her world had turned so upside down, and she could only come to one conclusion, which left her smiling as she drifted off to sleep.

'When I became friends with Draco Malfoy'

Part 2

For Draco, keeping his identity as Hermione's secret admirer was getting harder everyday.

Ever since her breakup with Weasley she had been spending more and more time with him, and as a consequence, he had been surrounded by her charm and intelligence for the best part of the past week.

The only time he had managed to get away from her in the last two days was yesterday morning when he had gone shopping for her Christmas gift.

Xx Harry Potter xX

After breakfast that morning, Draco all but pulled Blaise out of the front door of Hogwarts to go with him to Diagon Alley to buy Hermione a Christmas present.

A couple of weeks ago he had pulled Hermione's name out of the hat when she had insisted on doing a Secret Santa with the entire 8th year. And now, he needed to buy her a present that was worthy of her, not an easy feet.

He had decided to bring Blaise with him because he would know what Hermione would or wouldn't like, not that Draco didn't, but he decided he was going to need someone else's opinion.

Blaise had cut straight to the chase, and had pulled Draco straight into one of the most expensive jewellery stores in the whole of Diagon Alley.

They had been browsing for about half an hour when he found it. It was a solid gold charm bracelet, with enough space to hold 12 charms, 'perfect' thought Draco 'I can buy her 12 charms and give her one for each of the twelve days of Christmas' - it was a great idea.

After showing the bracelet to Blaise and gaining his approval, they left the store and ended up going over to a small coffee shop to sit and get a drink before they went back to Hogwarts,

"So, do you think she'll like it, the bracelet I mean?" said Draco, needing assurance that he had just spent a lot of galleons on something worth buying. Blaise simply chuckled before replying,

"I'm sure she'll absolutely love it, trust me" Draco sighed in relief, "And by the way, I heard from a very reliable source" Draco snorted, but allowed him to continue, "that the lovely Miss Granger is actually hoping that her mystery man, is in fact, you" Blaise finished with an uninterested look on his face as he took another sip of his coffee, staring out of the window at a group of men walking past outside.

Draco was feeling like doing a happy dance (internally, of course. Malfoy's don't act like fools in public) but he refrained, and replied as casually as he could,

"Oh really, and who, pray tell, is your reliable source?" Draco asked, secretly hoping it was, in fact, a reliable source, and not just an annoying, gossip hungry 5th year.

"Well, I was in Hermione's room when I happened upon an open book. Not knowing what it was, I read a few lines before realising it was her personal diary" said Blaise, who almost cracked up laughing at the look on Draco's face. It was a cross between ecstatic and murderous, something he was sure only Draco could pull off.

"Anyway," continued Blaise, "we should probably be heading back to Hogwarts now, don't want to miss lunch" Draco nodded his head in agreement as he dropped a few galleons onto the table before he and Blaise took their leave, heading back to Hogwarts.

Xx Harry Potter xX

The rest of that day had been spent watching the girls and Blaise decorating the common room for Christmas.

Every once in a while, one of the girls would ask him or Harry for their opinion, and they would do their best, often ending up receiving glares from multiple girls before they turned back to their game of wizards chess.

Draco also ended up sending a longing gaze at the back of Hermione's head every half an hour without even realising what he was doing.

At about 8 in the evening, all the decorating had been done, and the entire 8th year (minus Ron and Lavender) were sat around the fire, discussing things like Christmas, Quidditch, clothes, or something similar.

Before everyone started disappearing to go to bed, Hermione stood up to address the group,

"Okay, so I know that a lot of you are going back to your homes on Christmas day, so, now that the tree is up, everyone can start putting their Secret Santa gifts under the tree starting tomorrow, and we'll hand them out on Saturday evening. That's all guys, you can go back to whatever you were doing" And she sat back down and continued her animated conversation with Dean about something muggle that Draco couldn't remember the name of.

"She looks happy" said a voice behind him, and he turned to see Harry stood behind him.

"Yeah" replied Draco "But will she still be happy when she finds out I'm the guy sending her all the notes?" he questioned, hoping Harry would have the answer to the question that had been bothering him.

"Well, you'll never know until she finds out it's you" he said, before bidding his goodnight to the group and going up to bed.

Soon after Harry left small groups started to disperse to go to bed, Draco being one of those people.

He lay back in his bed, hoping he could get a good nights sleep.

Xx Harry Potter xX

The next day was interesting for everyone.

Hermione had announced that she had finally worked out how to make muggle electrical appliances work inside Hogwarts, so she had taken it upon herself to set up a television and DVD player, and put on several different muggle Christmas films throughout the day.

She had then proceeded to claim one of the comfiest armchairs and watch every film, quoting along to one in particular called 'Love Actually' which amused Draco immensely.

At the start of the day when he was instructed he had to sit with Hermione all day so that she didn't get too emotional and start crying or go and kill Ron, he hadn't been that pleased.

But, spending most of the day sat in the common room with her, watching films was actually rather pleasant. So much so that at 9 o'clock that evening when Hermione announced that the final film had finished, Draco was a little upset. He enjoyed Hermione's presence immensely and didn't want to part from her when she announced that she was having an early night and going to bed.

He stayed lounging around the common room for the next 10 or 15 minutes before he realised he should just go to bed because he had nothing better to go.

As he was changing for bed he realised that apart from yesterday morning, he had spent the entire of the last two days with Hermione.

He groaned, realising that it was going to be hard keeping his identity a secret from her for much longer, '10 days' said a voice in his head 'you can last 10 days'

And with that thought in mind he drifted off to sleep.

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><p><strong>So, so far there are 6 members of Sweetheart's 11 - Me, ushallneverknow, Crissy Grigori, mtfmrstomfelton, and then two anonymous reviewers (I don't know there names)<strong>

**I would also like to say thank you to everyone who has reviewed/story alerted/story favourited this story, it means a lot to me ;P**


	6. Christmas Day : The Kiss

**So, I know that this is a few days late, but I've been a bit busy. And if things go according to plan, hopefully I will have another chapter out tomorrow.**

**Enjoy ;D**

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><p>The time in the past two days had flown by for everybody in 8th year. They'd been sitting by the fire talking, watching muggle movies and decorating every inch of the common room ready for Sunday.<p>

And then there was the Secret Santa presents to give out. They had been given out on Christmas Eve morning before anyone left to visit family, but Hermione had insisted that they all wait until Christmas day to open them if they were going to be at school.

All of this led to it being Christmas morning in the head girl's bedroom when she woke up from some very vivid dreams.

The day before Hermione had received another letter from her mystery man

Xx Harry Potter xX

When Hermione woke that morning it was to the sound of a bird tapping against her window. She groaned as she stretched before getting up and opening the window to let the owl in.

She looked over to her clock and realised that she had, in fact, slept in, and not been woken up too early in the morning.

She looked at the owl and recognised it as the one that had delivered her the letter from her mystery man the other day.

As soon as the bird had dropped the letter onto her lap she ripped it open to see what it said;

_Hermione,_

_I do hope that you like your Secret Santa gift you're going to receive today, when I saw it, it was just so you, that I had to buy it._

_By the way, I hope that this letter will help narrow down your list to 5 people, seeing as I know one of those guys isn't participating in this whole charade._

_And to answer your question, I am on that list, and I'm also interested in why you underlined Draco Malfoy's name?_

_I hope you have a wonderful Christmas day,_

_- X –_

She was confused at the letter 'what does he mean? I thought all of those guys were doing the Secret Santa.

She got dressed as quickly as possible and went to find Pansy.

Xx Harry Potter xX

She had then found out that Theodore Nott wasn't participating in the Secret Santa '1 down, 4 to go' she thought to herself as she got out of bed and started to get dressed, pushing all thoughts of her dreams of Draco Malfoy out of her head.

Meanwhile, in the head boy's bedroom, Draco had woken up content at the fact that Hermione would open her present today, and hopefully, she would love it.

He still wasn't sure who had had him for the Secret Santa, he had it narrowed down to 2 people; Pansy or Hermione, but he didn't know which! He used to be better at stealthing, but since the whole Hermione thing he had been a bit distracted.

He heaved himself out of bed, earlier than usual (obviously) seeing as it was Christmas day. He was excited to see what he'd got for Christmas (what? Sometimes you just have to ignore what people expect of you and have some fun!).

So in true fashion, he, as well as everyone else in 8th year, got dressed as quickly as possible and raced downstairs to see all the presents.

It was a great spread, they had to admit it. There were presents covering almost the entire floor space under the tree, all labelled to different people who were still there. Given, there was only 10; Hermione, Pansy, Susan, Draco, Blaise, Harry, Justin, Ron, Cormac and Ginny (she was joining them today so she was with her boyfriend and brother) - but still, more than expected.

Hermione was secretly excited. She wanted to see what her 'mystery man' had bought for her in the Secret Santa. She was hoping it was something that she could keep with her forever, and from what he had written in the note, that is exactly what it would be.

She was very aware that in the back of her mind, there was a voice telling her that it wasn't a 'mystery man', it was Draco. But she didn't know that to be true, did she? She didn't want to jump to a conclusion and have her heart broken (spending all that time with him was making her fall in love with him) it was silly to even think about being in love with him, but she knew deep down it was true.

She looked around the common room and realised Draco was missing. She was going to say something when she turned and saw him walking down the stairs to join their group.

As Draco came downstairs he realised, that in true Malfoy form, he was last to arrive. The second thing he noticed was the fact that Hermione was staring at him, and she only looked away once he turned to look at her.

He came over to her and Pansy and smiled, saying his hello's before everyone went about separating the presents into piles for everyone.

"Okay, so seeing as I'm not involved, why don't you all open the Secret Santa gifts first?" said Ginny, smiling up at Harry and then around to everyone in the room.

"That sounds great" said Hermione, "Let's do it" And everyone did.

Hermione found the small box with neat handwriting on saying,

_For a lovely lady, from your secret Santa x_

She smiled before opening the box and gasping at its contents.

Lying inside the box was what looked to be a solid gold charm bracelet with one charm already in place in the shape of a lion rearing back its head. It was incrusted with several small rubies, obviously symbolising the Gryffindor house – in short, the entire thing was breathtaking.

She carefully removed it from the box, realising that she was holding something that was very expensive, and admired it glinting in the morning light.

Ginny gasped when she saw it, immediately coming over and looking at it, admiring it just as Hermione was, before insisting that Hermione had to put it on because it would 'look absolutely adorable on you, especially with your skin tone'.

Draco watched all of this with a content smile on his face. He was broken out of his daydreaming when Harry nudged him in the side,

"Bloody hell mate! That must have cost you a lot of Galleons. You must really love her." And before Draco could respond Harry was halfway across the room, talking to Ron and Ginny while Hermione showed Pansy her gift. He looked down at his half-opened present and decided to see what had been bought for him.

He was pleasantly surprised to see what looked like a muggle watch with his name engraved onto the back. He smiled down at it before putting it on, 'it's definitely from Hermione' he thought as he fitted it onto his wrist.

He looked up and saw Hermione looking at him putting on the watch. There eyes met, and just for a second, it was only them in the room before Hermione was pulled away from his gaze by Pansy handing her a gift as the phrase 'Merry Christmas' started resonating around the room from different people handing out their gifts.

Time then seemed to slip past everyone that morning until people started to realise that it was time for lunch, so as a group, they headed down to the great hall for the customary Christmas lunch.

As everyone left the common room, Hermione noticed a piece of paper in the bottom of the box she had received. She bent down and picked it up to see what it said,

_Hermione,_

_That first charm for the bracelet is to symbolize your Hogwarts house. You will receive one to symbolize mine on Saturday._

_I have bought you one for every day of Christmas – 12, and hopefully you will want the last 5 once you know who I am._

_Merry Christmas,_

_- X -_

She put the note in her pocket, heading to lunch, and pushed the thought of all of this to the back of her mind.

Xx Harry Potter xX

Everyone had a great laugh; pulling crackers, telling absurdly bad jokes and drinking alcohol (those over 17 anyway) and by about four o'clock, everyone was happy to go and settle down, talk to their friends etc.

Harry, Hermione, Ginny and Ron were heading to the burrow the next day to celebrate Christmas with the whole Weasley clan, so she decided to make the most of the rest of the day and spend time with Draco, Pansy and Blaise.

Draco, also planning to head home the next day, was thinking on the exact same lines, so all four of them headed upstairs to Hermione's dorm room (hers was tidier) to talk and have a bit of fun.

Xx Harry Potter xX

A few of hours later (at about 8 o'clock) , Hermione was winning yet another game of blackjack, laughing at her friends faces as she sat smugly up against her bed.

"Oh my god, how on Earth do you keep winning? I'm supposed to be the best at card games here!" huffed Pansy as she folded yet again, meaning Hermione would win.

"Well, maybe you shouldn't have agreed to play a muggle card game then. It was obvious I would win" said Hermione, raking in her winnings, chuckling a little at the fact that the three Slytherins were such bad losers.

"That's it" cried Blaise, throwing himself down onto the bed and huffing, "I refuse to continue playing, you win almost every time!" he complained, rolling over and pouting in Hermione's direction. She just laughed before picking up all the cards to put away.

"Fine, but what do you suggest we do then? I thought it was fun playing Black Jack" said Hermione, standing up and stretching before heading over to her desk to put way her cards.

"How about we play spin the wand?" asked Draco, who was laying down on Hermione's floor staring up at the ceiling, waiting for some answers.

"Yeah, that sounds like fun" said Blaise, who ran a predatory eye up and down Draco before he came back to sit on the floor.

"I suppose this is just like the muggle game spin the bottle?" asked Hermione, to which she received three nods, "Okay, but I think we should change the rules slightly, as in, the kiss escalates every time you kiss someone seeing as there's only 4 of us" she received some blank looks from Pansy and Blaise so she elaborated, "As in, at first it's just a kiss in the cheek, then on the mouth, then we set some time limits, okay?" This seemed to make more sense to the others, who all voiced there consent.

"One other thing" said Draco, who pulled out a couple of bottles of fire whiskey from his robes, "we might want some of this"

Xx Harry Potter xX

Another hour and a half later, Hermione had determined 3 things.

Number 1, Blaise was definitely gay,

Number 2, she was definitely straight,

And Number 3, she really wanted to snog Draco Malfoy.

Draco had already previously determined 2 of Hermione's 3 things a few years ago (they didn't talk about it).

The one he had just now come to realise was the he really wanted to snog Hermione senseless, no matter what was happening.

Pansy was close to passing out, Blaise was starting to rant about his parents between snogs, Draco had gone oddly silent, and Hermione was spinning her wand.

As it span, she was hoping that it landed on Draco. Frankly, she had kissed Pansy and Blaise enough tonight, and she now considered them too drunk to kiss properly, but she had noticed that Draco hadn't drunk as much as the others so hopefully he would remember what happened the next day if the got a proper kiss.

Draco looked down at Hermione's wand as it stopped facing him. He was just drunk enough to put his worries aside and go for it and not too drunk to forget what was about to happen – just the right combination.

Neither of them knew who lent forward first, and if you asked, they would never know, all they knew was that at the moment their lips touched, they both felt fireworks.

Hermione closed her eyes almost immediately, seeing stars in the back of her eye lids. Draco did the same, seeing the same, feeling absolutely blissful.

He lent forward, deepening the kiss, pulling her toward him with his hands on her hips. She put her arms up to tangle her hands into his hair as she allowed his tongue entrance to her mouth.

Millions of thoughts were racing through Draco's head, 'she tastes like heaven', 'does she actually reciprocate my feelings', 'oh my god, she is divine' – all of these thoughts getting cut off when he heard someone clearing their throat next to him, and then he got the feeling of loss.

Hermione pulled away when she heard Blaise clear his throat behind her with a smirk on his face,

"Um, you guys should…" she cleared her throat before continuing "You guys should leave. We all need to leave early tomorrow. Merry Christmas" she smiled as best as she could as they walked past her.

Draco was the last to leave,

"Look, maybe we should talk abou-" but he was cut off when Hermione held up her hand to stop him,

"Just, leave now. We can talk some other time" It looked like Draco was about to speak again so she continued "I'm tired, so another time, yeah?" Draco just nodded absently and left before Hermione said anything else.

He went over to his room, not hearing Blaise calling his name as he shut his door, all the while thinking about what happened, 'why won't she talk to me about it?' he thought, 'maybe she doesn't like me the way I like her. Maybe it was just a big misunderstanding' he pondered as he stripped down to his boxers before climbing into bed, not caring about pyjamas at this point, his thoughts plaguing his mind.

Hermione wasn't faring much better in her room, 'why did I push him away like that?' she though to herself as she changed into her pyjamas, 'he probably thinks that I don't like him now, that's just great' she thought and she climbed numbly into bed.

She herself wasn't sure if she loved him, but she definitely liked him, a lot.

And as they both lay there, similar thoughts entered both of their minds;

'Maybe he doesn't like me back'

'Maybe she doesn't love me back'

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><p><strong>So just to clarify, Hermione does sort of love him, but he has lovedliked her a lot longer, hence the bit at the end.**

**Feel free to leave a review D**


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